Thursday, January 21, 2010

I dreamed the other night about being in a swamp. The fog was as thick as the New York telephone directory. I couldn't see where I was at, or which way to go. Finally, after standing there for what seemed like hours, I saw a faint light off in the distance and headed out in the direction.

I tromped through knee deep muck, with a smell so bad that you could almost cut it. I finally reached the point from where the light was shining. It was a tiny little island of solid land, with a tiny hut in the middle. The light was shining brightly from a window in the side of the thatched roof bungalo and the smell of food cooking drove me to peep inside the small door.

There was a little gnarly old man squatting over a fire with one little pan, frying some meat of some sort. "Come in, stranger" he said "I will share what little I have with you"

"Who are you?" I asked

"I am your spirit" he answered

"I am always here, although many times you do not know it and seek me out when you need me"

"Here...eat" he said as he handed me the food.

I took a bite, and immediately the surrounding changed. I was no longer in a tiny thatched roof hutch but found myself in a huge mansion with hundreds of lights hanging from the ceiling. I walked outside and the night was as crystal clear as a diamond. Stars twinkled and blinked and looked down on me with joy. There was no trace of the dark swamp, the fog, or the feeling of despair which I had so recently experienced.

I turned around to look for the little man, and a very handsomly dressed man stood there in his place. I recognized him as the same person, but totally different now, almost angelic in his demeanor.

"What was that you gave me to eat?" I asked him

He laughed gently "Now I can't go telling you all of my secrets can I?"

"Just remember, it's always there inside you when you need it"

The thought just popped into my head that I should always seek first inside me for the strength I need before looking to the world for them.

Monday, January 18, 2010

We go one with our lives like we are going to live forever, don't we? I know I do. The thought that I am not going to have a tomorrow, or a next year is alien to me. It is just nor real. I wonder though, if we knew we had just a very short time left, what things would we want to do? What would we want to "finish up?" Would they be mundane? Would we do wonderful things?

I would want to see all my family, and reminisce with them for a while about the good times we have had. I have two or three favorite books I would love to read ONE more time! There are a few movies that have touched my heart so much, I would want to see them one more time. There is music I would want to listen to again….mostly from the 60's!

I have a couple of favorite eating spots I would love to go to one more time. I would greatly love to go to the beach one more time.

I would want to visit a few little towns that I haven't been to in a while. I would want to go to the spot where my Grandparents house used to stand, and walk the old trail back up into the woods for a mile or two (in the Fall of course…no snakes, but then again with such a small amount of time, who cares about snakes?) I would want to have one more Christmas with my family.

I'd like to give some money to someone who was hungry to buy themselves a meal. I'd like to give away all my junk I have here at home that I'm never going to use, and wouldn't have time to sell. I'd have a "come and get it free" yard "sale" Wonder if anyone has ever had one of those!

I'd like to sleep soundly and perfectly for 7 or 8 straight hours without waking up to go to the bathroom, check on the time, take a headache pill, or any of those other distracting things. Just once….that 8 hours of sleep. Wouldn't that be a waste of time, you say? I certainly don't think so, because when you sleep you dream. I would love to dream. I have so few good dreams nowadays. I am not so sure we get to dream after we leave here. Hate to lose that wonderful aspect of life.

Really, when you think about it, this sounds like a pretty good list of things to do, doesn't it? Actually, it's what we do all the time. It's life. And if we fail to live it to the fullest, then we have nobody to blame but ourselves.

So, tomorrow I will start ticking these things off one by one. It's never too late to change, and maybe God will give me enough time to finish off living this wonderful life he has given me. You never know, I may have time to get through this list, and start another one!